2025 Theses Master's

Futures Assembled: Futures Assembled: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Infrastructural Transformation in Western Massachusetts

Von Palombini, Benedetta Freiin

High-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure is emerging as a critical site through which economic development, technological advancement, and urban revitalization are being negotiated in post-industrial contexts. While most scholarship on data centers focuses on hyperscale, corporate-owned facilities and their environmental costs, the distinct role of computing facilities operated by academic institutions remains underexamined. This thesis addresses that gap through a case study of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) in Holyoke, MA. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature in planning, infrastructure studies, and science and technology studies, this research examines the future-oriented imaginaries that facilitated facilities development and its material entanglements in Holyoke.

Using a qualitative approach focused on interviews, supplemented through an examination of relevant literature, policies, news articles and industry documents, this project investigates how sociotechnical imaginaries—articulated by state, academic, and municipal actors—have shaped the siting, development, and symbolic positioning of the MGHPCC. These imaginaries frame the facility as an engine of regional revitalization, scientific innovation, and environmental leadership. At the state level, the MGHPCC is positioned as a strategic investment in the knowledge economy and a model for green development. Locally, however, these imaginaries are contested, as residents express aspirations to be part of these visions through meaningful engagement.

It finds that while the MGHPCC is using clean energy and contributes to scientific research, its integration into the civic and economic fabric of Holyoke has been limited by uneven access, opaque accountability mechanisms, and a narrow definition of public benefit. The data center’s location on a former mill site reflects a broader trend of spatial continuity between past industrial geographies and emerging digital infrastructures. This study offers planners and policymakers insights for understanding both infrastructural and social dimensions of HPC infrastructure in post-industrial cities. In doing so, it underscores the need for transparent accountability frameworks, equitable access strategies, and sustained institutional partnerships to ensure that the promises made in the name of scientific and technological innovation are met with tangible, inclusive benefits for local communities.